Introduction: Self-touch (ST) may serve for arousal regulation, both of hyper- and hypoarousal, as it may be observed in presence as well as absence of external stimulation. It remains unclear if ST with varying structural features occurs in different contexts, and if this potentially regulatory mechanism is learned or inherent. The aim of this study was to discover if the rate of ST increases with higher stresslevels, to identify structurally different forms of ST used in different contexts, and to find out if there are age differences in stress processing between pre- and post-pubertal female soccer players. Methods: We compared hand movements of 10 pre- (11.9±0.72 y.) and 10 ostpubertal (21.6±1.73 y.) soccer girls in non-stress (NS) and stress (S) settings. As NS setting we used an interview about a positive experience, whilst the arithmetic part of the Trier social stress test (TSST) was used as S-inducing setting. All settings lasted 5 minutes and were filmed. All hand movements as well as structural components of ST were analyzed with the NEUROGES-ELAN system by two independent raters. Results: A decrease in repetitive ST was found (right hand (rh): 1.47±1.54 s/min vs. 0.11±0.24 s/min, p=0.023; left hand (lh): 3.81±3.72s/min vs. 0.92±2.53 s/min, p=0.007) in the post-pubertal girls in the S situation compared to the NS situation. The post-pubertal girls displayed less hand movements, including phasic (rh: 9.89±6.76 s/min vs. 0.73±0.97 s/min, p=0.000; lh: 8.7±4.57 s/min vs. 1.61±1.93 s/min, p=0.000) and repetitive (rh: 2.13±2.75 s/min vs. 0.03±0.09 s/min, p=0.002; lh: 1.35±1.26 s/min vs. 0±0 s/min, p=0.000) movements in space in the S setting. Pre-pubertal girls showed no change in hand movements in NS and S. The post-pubertal group displayed a stronger decrease in activation (rh: 1.58±13.79 s/min vs. -19.29±12.79 s/min, p=0.004; lh: -3.42±8.05 s/min vs. -17.09±14.31 s/min, p=0.043) and phasic movements (rh: -2.25±1.57 s/min vs. -9.17±6.88 s/min, p=0.001; lh: -0.93±1.92 s/min vs. -7.1±4.28 s/min, p=0.000) in the S situation compared to the pre-pubertal girls. Discussion: The puberty seems to influence regulatory mechanisms for stress-regulation and structurally different groups of ST are used in different contexts. This is unlike earlier studies which show an increase of ST movements with increasing the complexity of a test, which might be due to the cognitive complexity or the stress level of the test. Our results suggest that there are differences in stress processing between younger and older female soccer players, which should be accounted in training situations.
© Copyright 2016 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Vienna, 6. -9. July 2016. Veröffentlicht von University of Vienna. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.